Ebbsfleet United assistant manager David Kerslake reacts to FA Trophy penalty shoot-out defeat at Sutton United

Ebbsfleet assistant manager David Kerslake hailed the impact of new recruit Callum Harriott.

The 58-year-old former Tottenham and Swindon defender was impressed with Harriott’s contribution during their FA Trophy clash at Sutton on Saturday.

The Fleet lost 4-2 on penalties following a 3-3 draw in 90 minutes, Harriott coming on for the second half and immediately providing an assist before getting on the scoresheet himself.

“We didn’t play well, we know that in the first half,” said Kerslake.

“The manager rearranged the team and brought Callum on, we changed shape and really hurt them for 25 minutes.

“We were cutting them open at will and I thought we were going to get a fourth goal.

“Callum came on and completely changed the game for us.

“The real good thing was the belief in the team, we’ve not been scoring freely but we looked like a real good team there.”

But, as the case has been in league matches, the Fleet were unable to sustain their purple patch for a long period of time.

Sutton scored twice in the last 17 minutes to take the game to a penalty shoot-out.

“It’s always a nasty way to go out of a cup competition, on penalties,” reflected Kerslake.

“Getting 3-1 up, we should be seeing the game out so we’re really disappointed with that.

“Then we’ve conceded (the second) goal, we’ve dropped back and no matter what information we try to get on to step up the pitch and clip the ball in behind, it didn’t happen and Magnus (Norman) has ended up making a couple of great saves for us as well.

“Of course, in every game we’d like to be two (goals) up, and you should expect to see the game out. We can’t drop the way we did, we’ve got to be brave and get up the pitch.

“It’s been going on for a little while now, obviously